St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD) firefighters Mark Power and Mark Miller carry the remains of a dog that was retrieved from a pond just off Blackhead Road by members of the SJRFD’s cold water rescue team on Sunday afternoon after the SJRFD was notified by the city’s Humane Services about a dog that was partially submerged in the water.

The RNC is asking members of the public for any information they may have regarding the case of an alleged drowning of a dog in the area of Blackhead Crescent in St. John’s.

The RNC is working in conjunction with St. John’s Humane Services on the case.

About 2 p.m. Sunday, RNC officers responded to the area of Blackhead Crescent after the St. John’s Regional Fire Department had been assisting St. John’s Humane Services retrieve the remains of a dog from a pond in the area.

The fire department indicated the dog had been tethered to a rock and appeared to have been dumped in the pond.

Anyone who may have any information in relation to this incident is asked to contact the RNC at 729-8000 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). You can provide information anonymously on the NL Crime Stoppers website at www.nlcrimestoppers.com.

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Firefighters retrieve dead dog from pond

Suspected drowning of animal under investigation

A case of possible animal cruelty is being investigated in St. John’s involving the suspected drowning of a dog near Blackhead Road.

On Sunday on the north side of the road just past Blackhead Crescent, police, firefighters and Humane Services personnel were a few hundred feet in the nearby woods retrieving the remains of the animal and investigating the case.

“The City of St. John’s Humane Services contacted us earlier today stating there was a dog reported to them that was half submerged in a pond just off of Blackhead Road,”

St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD) Capt. Craig Cox of the West End Fire Station said Sunday. “On further investigation we found that the dog had been tethered to a rock and dumped in the pond.”

He added that SJRFD cold water rescue team members were also dispatched to the scene and went into the pond and retrieved the dead animal.

An employee of Humane Services was also on the scene and took possession of the animal after two firefighters carried the body from the woods on a stretcher.

“The RNC were contacted and they are currently in there on the scene doing a further investigation into the matter,” added Capt. Cox.

When asked by The Telegram, the Humane Services worker was unable to comment on the incident or say what breed the deceased dog was.

Cindy McGrath, a supervisor with Humane Services who spoke with The Telegram later, confirmed the dog’s remains were in its care, but said while the matter is under investigation there was little else she could provide in the way of information.

“I’ve been with the division for five years and this is the first time I’ve encountered anything like this,” she said.

McGrath said it’s not certain if the dog was drowned or if this was a means of disposal of a body.

“The only thing we did was retrieve the remains from the fire department. We have no further news other than that. We don’t know how the dog died. We don’t have anything at this particular point.”

McGrath said Humane Services would have further comment when it finds out more following the RNC investigation into the matter.

The RNC was contacted for further comment and would only say it is working in conjunction with the St. John’s Humane Society to investigate the incident and no further details will be provided at this time.

St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD) firefighters Mark Power and Mark Miller carry the remains of a dog that was retrieved from a pond just off Blackhead Road by members of the SJRFD’s cold water rescue team on Sunday afternoon after the SJRFD was notified by the city’s Humane Services about a dog that was partially submerged in the water.

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Colin Burke

September 04, 2013 - 21:05

Christina, judging by your tone, I'm inclined to doubt you would agree even that abortion or being compelled to have one, if it were not morally wrong, must yet be a horrible misfortune; you seem more inclined to approve a woman's having an abortion than to pity her for being compelled to it. Many seem to share that attitude, even if you don't, and maybe that encourages some women to have abortions without being horribly compelled: it seems a curious fact, that those who most seek to justify abortion by citing the difficultyof choosing it seem most to advocate making the choice as little difficult as possible.

Yup, "Dogs are the new children," except that killing children is all right if you can call it abortion. No fervent animal lover is likely to admit now that violently killing a healthy dog is essentially no worse than violently killing a moose or an angry bear, but almost everyone will swallow the "logic" whole when after the new attitude is firmly established PETA will argue that shooting moose or bears is quite as bad as shooting a pet dog.

Oh give it a rest. What the heck do you want women whom for whatever reason cannot keep their baby to do? Keep it? When doing so may cause either financial of emotional ruin? No. Why should they keep the child? For you? Who the heck are you? Are you going to help them? Again the answer is no. If you really want to demonize somebody, then go after the low lives you starve, abandon, or abuse their children. Not some poor woman who could only make the best possible decision she could under the circumstances she had available. No woman gets an abortion because she wants to end a life. She does so because she needs to do it. So come down off whatever high horse your on and take a minute next time to actually think before you say something.
I digress.
Who ever killed this dog did not do it because they had no other option, they did this because they wanted to make something suffer, and also to get a sick kick out of putting it in a popular swimming location so as to horrify whomever found it. This person is a worthless individual who just enjoys making others hurt. They should be punished but sadly it is unlikely they ever will.

MollyMay

September 03, 2013 - 11:26

Very sad to see such disregard for a living thing, the truly scary part is the anger and hate this person(s) has display against an innocent animal - I shutter to think about what else this person may be capable of doing to a child or anyone else who crosses their path. Evil I think only stratches the surface of what really lurks underneath - a soulless and very damaged being that without doubt will continue to be the cause of much pain and suffering to all those who cross his/her path.

If they release the name of the breed and whether the dog was a female or a male then they would probably catch the person, because someone would know if someone had a dog like that then suddenly did not, a neighbor, friend etc.

If this is found conclusively to be a cut and dried case of animal cruelty,the low lifes responsible should be hunted until found and then locked up for an extended period of time.Anyone with such a callous disregard for an animal as to put it through this incredibly inhumane torture,would certainly have little regard for any living thing. People like this are sick and evil and completely void of any kind of empathy for another living, breathing creature, hence they have the potential to inflict barbaric actions such as these on any living thing-including people and consequently have to be kept away from society until they are deemed to be of no danger to harm anyone or thing.

HBG

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